Dealing with fragmented attention is one of the most difficult challenges a child has to face. Whether she is studying in an international school here in the Philippines or otherwise, she faces tasks that could be hard to juggle and that call for her complete focus.
If your child is having difficulties finishing them, you might want to look into her sleeping patterns and concentration level – both of which are directly correlated with each other.
Do you believe your child needs help in these areas?
If so, don’t worry because there are a few things you could do in order to improve them such as simple practices in meditation, visualization, and the establishment of routines.
Let’s go ahead and explore some of the helpful guidelines that show how you can better your child’s quality of rest and focus:
Pavlov’s Classical Conditioning
Classical conditioning was first studied by Russian physiologist, Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, as an examination of the unconscious process by which stimuli becomes linked. Pavlov’s fundamental theory of Classical Conditioning simply suggests that the most effective way to get your kid to sleep is to create relaxing associations that will evoke her neural activity, making her think that it’s already time for bed.
A few simple tips include drinking warm milk, wearing pajamas, snuggling, and listening to relaxing music.
Conditioning can also be applied when your child is doing her homework. Mihaly Csizentmihalyi’s concept of flow refers to a state of complete ‘oneness’ with work and efficiency. This entails that your child would need time before she could fully harness her sense of flow. However, you could cultivate a set of conditions that will encourage her to start studying. For instance, you could have her create a to-do list or have her arrange the materials she needs to complete an assignment.
Setting Daily Routines
One of the cornerstones of parenting is the foundational idea that rituals can play a significant role in developing security and reducing anxiety in children. The practice of daily routines heightens your child’s sense of awareness by helping her understand that there is time for everything (given the proper allocation).
Having them in place will guide your child to develop patterns and habits that will prevent her thoughts from constantly drifting. It will also boost her focus on the task that she is currently faced with. Moreover, if she follows a bedtime, then she is more likely to get proper rest on a nightly basis.
Physical and Mental Exercise
A good precursor to this is to limit your child’s use of electronics. A good portion of idle time with gadgets could be better spent engaging with physical and intellectual activities that may also include interaction. Exercises for the body and the mind will improve her concentration because they stimulate her ability to approach things strategically.
One great example of this is through board games and various crossword puzzles; both of these can play a great role in developing her ability for sequencing and attention for semantics.
Key Takeaway
If you find that your child appears to have problems with concreting while studying in an international school here in the Philippines or otherwise, the issue generally lies in her sleep and mind-body integration.
Sleep is in direct causal relation with your child’s ability to concentrate. Essentially, her ability to concentrate on a task at hand is affected by establishing a good set of routines and by having a sufficient time for rest every night.
